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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. club — for golf
  5. club — for dancing
  6. net — for catching
  7. stock — shares
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. stock — goods
  11. track — to keep track
  12. net — in sport
  13. club — a group
  14. degree — temperature
  15. rash — a series
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — a video
  18. track — a path
  19. clip — for paper
  20. degree — an amount
  21. track — a song
  22. clip — to cut
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. net — after costs

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com